Fellowship vs. crappy job

I have one TT job offer but it's at a very non-competitive LAC (outside the top 100). I have funding for another year at a well-known, prestigious Ph.D. program. Money doesn't really matter one way or the other so I'm trying to figure out pros and cons.

Would taking a TT job at a not-so-awesome place hurt me when I presumably go on the market again, compared to being at a highly-regarded Ph.D. program? Or does the Assistant Professor title, regardless of where it is, help for the market in the future?

I have one advisor saying eh, no, don't take it and another saying YES, jump at any TT job. I'd appreciate some serious thoughts please.

Hm, don't care for the snark but yeah... I also feel guilty that it's not fair to go right back on the market when they're expecting a colleague who knows they'd like to stick around for a long time.

I was in this situation a couple years back. I decided to take the job. Good thing I did, because the bottom has fallen out of my subfield's job market over the last three years.
On the other hand, if you are already thinking about moving maybe spare the institution your brilliance and they might hire someone who actually wants to be there.

Depends on your beliefs about doing better next time. All else equal, you are unlikely to be any more competitive. If you have a book contract or are sitting on heap of RRs that you plan to convert, maybe. But my advice is take the bird in hand.

If your ambition is academia, then I say take it and hit the market again when you feel comfortable/ ready.

I was in a similar position last year and turned down an offer. I am now under/unemployed. Meanwhile, if some of the threads on here are to be believed, several of the jobs I applied to this year are interviewing people already in crappy TT jobs clearly looking to move up.

If you are interested in private sector/non-academic employment, then perhaps you can afford to take the risk. But if you want to be a professor, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush etc.

Hm, don't care for the snark but yeah... I also feel guilty that it's not fair to go right back on the market when they're expecting a colleague who knows they'd like to stick around for a long time.

Considering how bad the market is, it's really free for all. Take the TT and start looking for other opportunities in the meantime. Should you leave, the colleagues will understand. But you don't owe any loyalty to the institution as such.

So you think that it's more competitive to be a brand new AP at a crappy school (applying even before I start the job) compared to a more seasoned ABD at a very well-regarded school?

I do have a lot of work that should (with some good luck!) get published between now and next year.

Hm, don't care for the snark but yeah... I also feel guilty that it's not fair to go right back on the market when they're expecting a colleague who knows they'd like to stick around for a long time.

Considering how bad the market is, it's really free for all. Take the TT and start looking for other opportunities in the meantime. Should you leave, the colleagues will understand. But you don't owe any loyalty to the institution as such.

Thanks, I appreciate your comment. So in short, all else equal, you think an AP at a crappy school > ABD at a great school?

Or, take it. Polish and submit as much as you can to journals. Then go on the market next fall. They will only know if you have an interview. If you get a job then, you leave.
You don't owe them anything. Everyone is an adult and know or should know that you have a moral responsibility to yourself and family to pursue your dreams and that may entail moving around.
No one is going to say at your tenure, he does not meet the bar but he came.

No. This is what I tell my students and I teach at a top 10. Your file next Sept will be roughly the same if you take the job or not. Because the Fellowship year will be after the second round on market if you get nothing you are screwed. This way you start and go on the market and they the market makes the call on staying at a bad job or leaving for a better one which is better one year fellowship within nothing at the end v a better job that the one you passed on.

No. This is what I tell my students and I teach at a top 10. Your file next Sept will be roughly the same if you take the job or not. Because the Fellowship year will be after the second round on market if you get nothing you are screwed. This way you start and go on the market and they the market makes the call on staying at a bad job or leaving for a better one which is better one year fellowship within nothing at the end v a better job that the one you passed on.

What is the teaching load? Are we talking 3-3, or worse? I would say no if it's worse than 3-3.

I think that there is a bit of a stink that gets on you if you are applying to jobs as an AP from a s**tty school. It's better to apply as ABD from a prestigious program. There is a huge risk involved in turning down a job. There's also a risk involved in taking it--that you'll be stuck there, or that it will be one of those LACs that starts laying off tenure-track faculty. I know of someone who took a job at a LAC around 100 and was laid off due to budget strains.

Take the job. There is that saying, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Stay on the market next year...I was always told "you're always on the market until you're tenured, then you are on the market only when you want to be."
And there is no such thing as "no time to do research." Even a 4-4 teaching load means you are working about 20 hours a week.

This ignores the HUGE time sinks involved in prepping a ton of new courses and moving. You will lose a couple of months of research time setting up the new job.

Makes sense. Thanks.
No. This is what I tell my students and I teach at a top 10. Your file next Sept will be roughly the same if you take the job or not. Because the Fellowship year will be after the second round on market if you get nothing you are screwed. This way you start and go on the market and they the market makes the call on staying at a bad job or leaving for a better one which is better one year fellowship within nothing at the end v a better job that the one you passed on.